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History of Pasteurization and Germ Theory
Christian Devlin From Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch to fermentation and modern germ theory, the rise of the methods of pasteurization were greatly influenced by 19th century science. Using innovative scientific experiments, French and German biologists and physicians opened the realm of germ theory The Life of Louis Pasteur Microbiologist Louis Pasteur was the ''most important figure in the creation of pasteurization. His work on fermentation and disease truly led to the modern concepts and ideas that the world bases science off of today. To truly understand the reason's behind Pasteur's experiments, one must know of his childhood and early years. 'Early Life' Born on December 27, 1822 in Dole, France, Louis Pasteur was born to Jean-Joseph Pasteur, his father. the young boy's father had a very strong military influence. He was a revered sergeant major in the French army and was involved during the Napoleonic Wars. Like anyone with a family member in the military, Pasteur felt a strong sense of patriotism towards his home country, shaping him and his ideas in later years. Pasteur had no idea he would become a famous biologist at a young age. Instead, Louis' interest was in art. At a young age Louis Pasteur's art was his life. Many of his paintings and drawings were later preserved in museums. Pasteur was enrolled in elementary school in Arbois, France, and enrolled in high school in Besancon, France. Jacques-M.-R, 'Early Collegiate Study In his early collegiate years, Louis Pasteur was enlightened by science. In the early 1840s, Pasteur worked as a teaching assistant to a French chemist name Jean-Baptiste-Andre Dumas. Jacques-M.-R, From here, Pasteur found his true love for science. He began teaching chemistry in Lille, France, and then traveled to Paris to begin his research on yeast cells.["Louis Pasteur." World of Health.] The Work of Louis Pasteur 'Early Work in Molecular Biology ' Much of Pasteur's early work in the molecular biology field was dealing with certain properties of tartrates and paratartrates. Basing many of his ideas on a German chemist named Eilhardt Mitscherlich, Pasteur spent most of his time observing how these tartrates respond to certain types of light. According to Pasteur, these tartrate crystals responded differently to certain types of light than the paratartrate crystals did. This was highly significant in the 19th century scientific field as it led to the basis of molecular asymmetry. Jacques-M.-R, '''Pasteur's work on Fermentation Thanks to his early work in the field of molecular biology, Pasteur had his named published on many very famous papers of the time in France. He quickly became well known in many high-ranking colleges and was named on the faculty of sciences of Strousburg in 1848. Pasteur returned to the teaching college in Lille, France and began his work on fermentation. A common belief of the time was that fermentation spontaneously occurred due to many chemical reactions in a cell catalyzed by a variety of enzymes. Pasteur's view challenged this theory of fermentation. Theory" Pasteur started to analyze many properties having to do with grape sugar and its properties with fermentation into wine. Pasteur's findings dealt with lactic acid in the wine, and used to this base many of his theories of bacteria. From this, the method of "Pasteurization" was formed.["Louis Pasteur" World of Health.] Below is an excerpt from one of Pasteur's papers that clearly demonstrate his beliefs on germ theory. ''"The absolute proof that there actually exist transmissible, contagious, infectious diseases of which the cause lies essentially and solely in the presence of microscopic organisms. The proof that for at least some diseases, the conception of spontaneous virulence must be forever abandoned—as well as the idea of contagion and an infectious element suddenly originating in the bodies of men or animals and able to originate diseases which propagate themselves under identical forms: and all of those opinions fatal to medical progress, which have given rise to the gratuitous hypotheses of spontaneous generation, of albuminoid ferments, of hemiorganisms, of archebiosis, and many other conceptions without the least basis in observation" Louis. "The Germ Theory and Its Applications to Medicine and Sugery." 'Silkworm Work' The silkworm catastrophe in France turned out to be one of Pasteur's main focuses in the 1860's. Silk, one of France's main necessities, was becoming very scare. France was required to import silk from different countries, causing France to lose lots of money. A disease in silkworms in France were causing them not to produce silk. Although, Pasteur virtually knew nothing about silkworms, he received a lot of knowledge from his teacher, Dumas. Louis Pasteur worked for over five years on his silkworm project and eventually solved the spread of the silkworm's disease. Jacques-M.-R, Below is from another paper of Louis Pasteur describing his work ''First observation. - On June second, a puncture was made at the base of the small cone of pus at the apex of a furuncle on the nape of the neck. The fluid obtained was at once sowed in the presence of pure air-of course with the precautions necessary to exclude any foreign germs, either at the moment of puncture, at the moment of sowing in the culture fluid, or during the stay in the oven, which was kept at the constant temperature of about 35 C. The next day, the culture fluid had become cloudy and contained a single organism, consisting of small spherical points arranged in pairs, sometimes in fours, but often in irregular masses. Two fluids were preferred in these experiments-chicken and yeast bouillon. According as one or the other was used, appearances varied a little. These should be described. With the yeast water, the pairs of minute granules are distributed throughout the liquid, which is uniformly clouded. But with the chicken bouillon, the granules are collected in little masses which line the walls and bottom of the flasks while the body of the fluid remains clear, unless it be shaken: in this case it becomes uniformly clouded by the breaking up of the small masses from the walls of the flasks. Louis. "Extension Of The Germ Theory To The Etiology Of Certain Common Diseases." Reactions to Pasteurization 'Early Reactions' Many early reactions after speculation of Pasteurization claim that it could produce scurvy. After many tests and analysis, modern scientists have disproven this. Many people have also suggested that the process of pasteurization (heating to 60 degrees Celsius) does not kill all toxins and bacteria in the milk or whatever substance. Milton Joseph, 227 Specifications and Workings of Pasteurization Specifically Pasteurization is defined as the heating of milk to rid it of certain harmful bacteria that can cause sickness in humans. Milk is to be heated to 60 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes to completely rid the milk of any harmful bacteria that are found in it. However, Pasteurization can not be a substitute for filtering as it does not get rid of certain particles. Also this method does not rid the milk of any of its digestive properties or health benefits. Although initially controversial, Pasteurization truly is not as dangerous as it seems. ["Louis Pasteur." Chemical Heritage Foundation] Pasteur's Work with Vaccines 'Chicken Cholera' Quite possibly his most vital contribution to society, Louis Pasteur's work with vaccinations had extraordinary impacts. Louis Pasteur's work on rabbits led to many current day ideas of immunology. In 1879, Louis Pasteur was working on a syndrome known as chicken cholera. He observed many things about the pathogenic properties of the chicken over a long lineage of generations and used certain vaccines on the samples of cholera. Pasteur presented his findings to a famous medical society in France, but they were very skeptical to use his findings because he had a chemistry background. He proved that certain chickens who were vaccinated were immune from the cholera. Jacques-M.-R, 'Anthrax Work' An Anthrax epidemic broke out in France and Pasteur was one of the first to look for a cure. It was killing mass numbers of sheep in Europe, and Pasteur was looking for the reason. Along with a man named Robert Koch, Pasteur concluded that the bacteria was the reason for the anthrax epidemic and wanted to use what he had learned from his work on vaccination and apply it to the Anthrax outbreak. Pasteur did a controlled experiment on certain diseased sheep and proved that his vaccine worked. Jacques-M.-R, 'Significance' From silkworms and anthrax to fermentation and the revolution Germ Theory, the work of Louis Pasteur forever influenced modern day science. With a background of strong French nationalism, Pasteur's devotion to his countery led to basis of modern day medicine. Louis Pasteur was the ''most influencial scientist of the 19th century, and will forever be remebered as the father of Germ Theory. Bibliography 1) "Germ Theory." ''World of Scientific Discovery. ''Gale, 2010. ''Student Rescources in Context. ''Web. 25 Oct. 2013 2) Jacques-M.-R., Nicolle. "Pasteur, Louis." (2007) ''MAS Ultra-'' ''School Edition. EBSCO. Web. 25 Oct. 2013 3) "Louis Pasteur." Chemical Heritage Foundation ''Web. 01 Nov. 2013 4) "Louis Pasteur." ''World of Health. ''Gale, 2007. ''Student Resources in Context. '' Web. 25. Oct. 2013. 5) Pasteur, Louis. "Extension Of The Germ Theory To The Etiology Of Certain Common Diseases." ''Internet Modern History Sourcebook ''Web. 01 Nov. 2013. 6) Pasteur, Louis. "The Germ Theory and Its Applications to Medicine and Sugery." ''The Harvard Classics ''Web. ''01 Nov. 2013. 7) Rosenau, Milton Joseph. "The Milk Question." Houghton Mifflin Company, 1912. 227-230. Web. 1 Nov. 2013